Chapter 3---Reactions
Hogan began feeling the effects of the injection within seconds. A surge of euphoria was promptly followed by a warm, flushing of his skin. He then felt nauseous and thought he might need to throw up. Hogan's head bobbed up and down as he attempted to fight a strong urge to sleep and stay awake. Also, his breathing was becoming rapid. His arms and legs began to feel so heavy he knew he wouldn't be able to move them even if he wasn't tied to a chair. His mouth was becoming dry and pasty.
Diels tilted Hogan's head upward to enable him to look into his barely open eyes. He noticed the American's pupils had become smaller. "Hmmmm," Diels murmured, noticing Hogan's sluggish reaction. "How do you feel, Colonel?" he asked, not really interested, but curious.
"Sick…" Hogan's voice seemed detached. "What did…you…give me? I feel…." He didn't finish as he started nodding off again. Diels shook Hogan's head, waking him.
"What did I give you?" Diels asked himself out loud as he mulled over whether or not to disclose the information. After a long moment, he reached a decision.
"I don't see at this point where it makes any difference if you know. Very well, I will tell you. Not that it will matter anyway. I gave you an injection of heroin (1). You will receive an injection every four hours, and each time I will increase the dosage until after a few days, Colonel, you will be dependent on the drug. This is the Gestapo's new technique developed by the section 8 department. It has proven to be an effective interrogation technique even though all those who have been injected have died either from the withdrawal or receiving too much of the drug. It is still experimental."
"No…" Hogan whispered. "Don't. Please don't…no." Hogan started nodding off again but was again awakened by Diels who smiled.
"Look at me, Colonel," he said.
Hogan couldn't seem to focus on anything. "I don't…don't. No."
"Colonel, let me explain something to you. After a few days of continuous injections with an increase in dosage each time, you will become dependent on the drug. I'll then start withholding it from you and your body will start to react to being denied the heroin. At that point, you will tell me whatever I want to know just to get relief from the withdrawal which I understand can be quite painful I assure you." It was at that moment that Diels noticed Hogan had nodded off. He released the American's head and let it fall against his chest.
Klink shuddered when his office door opened and his pretty blonde secretary, Hilda, stood inside the doorway.
"Herr Kommandant, General Burkhalter is here," she announced.
"Very well. Show him in, Fraulein Hilda."
"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," she replied, standing aside to allow the rotund figure of General Albert Burkhalter to enter. Klink jumped up and saluted the General, who smiled at Hilda who forced a smile to her face even though she despised the General with a passion. At most, she found him amusing in an annoying way. After he had entered Klink's office, removing his cap, she walked out and closed the door leaving the two men alone.
"Well, Klink," Burkhalter remarked removing his coat as the Kommandant hurried forward and taking the coat and cap, hung them on the coat tree. Burkhalter sat down in the chair against the wall under the Fuhrer's picture. "Have you discovered anything new since we last spoke?"
Klink slowly sat down behind his desk. "I did make a call to Major Hochstetter. He said he did not authorize Colonel Hogan's arrest nor send anybody here to arrest him. In other words, Herr General, he knows nothing about it."
Burkhalter nodded. "That is what he told me when I called him. Klink, when this Gestapo officer showed you these signed orders demanding you turn Hogan over to the Gestapo, didn't it occur to you to question why Major Hochstetter didn't come himself to arrest Hogan?" His eyes bore into Klink.
Klink shriveled before the General's hard stare. "No, sir. I assumed Major Hochstetter was too busy to come himself and sent this Captain instead."
Burkhalter, rolling his eyes towards the heavens, looked again at the Kommandant. "Klink, how did you ever become a Colonel in the Luftwaffe? No. On second thought, don't tell me. The first thing you should have done was check with Major Hochstetter when you were handed those signed orders. That is what I would have done, dummkopf!"
Just then the door burst open and the intimidating, short, black-haired, mustached form of Major Wolfgang Hochstetter, dressed in the familiar flowing black coat of the Gestapo, stormed in, slamming the door behind him. Looking around, he acknowledged Burkhalter with a salute; the General returned it. But when the Gestapo agent noticed Klink, a twisted smirk appeared on his face. "Well, Klink," he said pulling off his gloves. "Lose one of your prisoners?"
Klink shook his head slowly at Hochstetter's brand of humor. This day was rapidly going from bad to worse. "Major Hochstetter, I honestly believed those signed orders were from you. That is why I didn't dispute them."
"Klink and I were just discussing that when you arrived, Major," Burkhalter was suddenly smiling like a Cheshire cat as he looked at the Major. "Apparently, somebody went through a lot of trouble posing as a Gestapo Captain, forging your signature on documents all for the purpose of removing Hogan from this camp. Do you have any theories on the subject, Major?"
"Of course it could all be a ploy by Hogan in order to escape from this camp without anybody looking for him." He glared at Klink as he spoke.
"What are you hinting at, Major?" asked Klink nervously. "You know very well there has never been a successful escape…."
Hochstetter annoyingly waved his hand stopping Klink in mid-sentence. "Please, don't start that again." He sighed. "Klink, did it ever occur to you that Hogan may have set this entire thing up ahead of time so he could escape and then help his men escape later on?"
"No, sir. Colonel Hogan didn't act like it was a pre-arranged plan. He seemed totally caught off-guard."
"Of course he did, dummkopf," Hochstetter replied, annoyed. "That is what he wanted you to believe. This so-called Gestapo Captain was probably a member of the underground. And you allowed the most dangerous man in Germany to simply waltz right out the front gate and probably out of Germany." Leaning over Klink's desk, Hochstetter waved a balled fist in the Colonel's face, anger apparent on his face. "I swear if it is the last thing I ever do, I will find Hogan and both you and him will face the firing squad together, Kom-man-dant!" He stretched out every syllable of Klink's title.
"Calm down, Major, before you give yourself a stroke," Burkhalter remarked. "We have no proof that Hogan arranged anything. When we find him, if it turns out he is responsible and was trying to escape, he will be punished appropriately. But, if it turns out to be something else, we will have to deal with it appropriately."
Hochstetter mumbled under his breath. He let out a deep breath. "Klink, do you have the signed orders this Captain showed you? Or did you give them back to him before he left with Hogan?"
"I have them right here on my desk, Major," Klink replied shuffling papers around on his cluttered desk until he found them. He held them out to Hochstetter who had a smirk on his face as he snatched them from Klink's hand.
"At least you did one thing right, Klink," he remarked with a chuckle. Then his eyes scanned the documents. Each page seemed to be in order. However, when he got to the page with the signature, he paused. For although the forged signature could easily be mistaken for his, it was that perfect; Hochstetter still recognized the handwriting. He blanched as he continued staring at the signature. Looking behind him to see where the chair was, he sat down slowly; stunned.
"Something wrong, Major?" asked Burkhalter with a seemingly amused grin.
Hochstetter appeared distressed. He looked at the Kommandant. "Klink, do you remember the name of this Gestapo Captain?"
"Yes, sir. It was Captain Diels."
Hochstetter momentarily closed his eyes. To Klink and Burkhalter, he looked ill. With a sigh, he looked around at Burkhalter. "Captain Diels is my aide. I can't believe he would not only forge my signature, but go behind my back and…"
"You'd better come up with a better explanation than that, Major," Burkhalter said. Hochstetter appeared puzzled.
"What are you talking about, General?" the Gestapo agent asked.
"Before I arrived here I had a meeting with Reichsfuhrer Himmler, a very dear friend of mine. In fact, I was waiting for you to arrive once Klink told me he had called you. The Reichsfuhrer wants you to call him right away. He wishes to talk to you about this matter."
Hochstetter swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat upon hearing Himmler's name. That the most powerful man in Germany second only to the Fuhrer wanted to speak with him couldn't be good. Getting up, he walked around Klink's desk and picked up the telephone.
"Fraulein, connect me with Reichsfuhrer Himmler's office right away, bitte. Danke."
Hogan massaged his forehead as he opened his eyes. It took him a long moment before he realized he was no longer seated in the chair, but was lying on his back on a bed. Hogan noticed the manacle around his left wrist, one end of the chain attached to the cuff while the other end of the chain was attached to the wall above the headboard. He then noticed his right was bound identically. But the chain between the cuffs and the walls was not long enough to allow Hogan to defend himself against Diels or anybody else. He then saw each leg was bound to the lower bed frame with handcuffs.
Hogan tried to sit up but found he was not able to. He still felt sleepy and sick to his stomach. He was also sweating. If only he could remember what happened to make him feel like he did. As he rubbed his face with both hands, he suddenly froze and stared at his right arm and noticed the needle mark. Then it slowly came back to him. What was it Diels had said he was giving him?
Heroin! Hogan winced. Diels was going to get him dependent on heroin and then withhold it from him in order to get him to reveal everything. Hogan began to panic as that thought terrified him. He had to find a way out and quickly. If he didn't, he didn't know how long he could fight becoming dependent on the drug. He yanked on both chains hoping he might be able to loosen one from the wall when the door opened. Hogan paused and looked up. A smiling Captain Diels stood in the doorway with a syringe in his hand.
"Time for a second injection, Colonel," Diels smirked as he entered the room and stood beside the bed on Hogan's right side.
"Please don't…" Hogan begged. "Don't do this…please…"
Diels ignored Hogan's pleas as he grabbed the American's right arm and pulled it straight. He then jabbed the syringe into his arm and injected its contents.
Hochstetter stiffened the moment he heard Himmler's voice on the other end.
"Herr Reichsfuhrer, Major Hochstetter here. General Burkhalter informed me you wanted to speak with me."
Hochstetter listened carefully to what he was being told.
"Jawohl, Herr Reichsfuhrer. Ja, I understand. It will be done as you ordered. Auf Wiedersehen. Heil Hitler." He hung up the phone. He looked at Klink and then Burkhalter as he nervously bit his lower lip.
"What did my dear friend have to say, Major?" asked Burkhalter, amused at the Gestapo Major's apparent discomfort.
Hochstetter's back stiffened. "He said the Fuhrer is extremely displeased that Hogan was taken out of the camp. And since my signature appears on the orders he is holding me responsible. He has ordered me to not only find Hogan, but to rescue him from whoever's holding him and bring him back alive to Stalag 13."
"What else did my dear friend say?"
"He promised that should I fail to bring Hogan back or should he die in the process, heads will roll beginning with mine."
Klink stifled a laugh at Hochstetter's apparent problem. Hochstetter glared at the Kommandant, knowing he found the situation amusing. So did Burkhalter. But the one thing that stuck in Hochstetter's gut was that he had to rescue one Colonel Robert Hogan and bring him safely back to Stalag 13.
Heroin was made by the Bayer Company in Germany in 1898. It started as a cough medicine and painkiller. The word heroin comes from the German word, heroisch, which means powerful and heroic. When injected directly into the bloodstream, a person can feel its effects in seven seconds.